Chattanoogans for several decades have chosen to steer the city's destiny, unwilling to accept that the course of it cannot be changed, Mayor Andy Berke said.
Most cities don't because they allow themselves to be defined by external forces, he said.
When the city was judged to have poor air and water quality, Chattanooga took steps to change them. When the central city became a ghost town at night and on the weekends, Chattanooga remade and reinvigorated its downtown area, Berke said.
"We're best when we come together," he told Times Free Press editors at City Hall Monday, ahead of his State of the City address at the Chattanoogan Hotel Monday night. "We come together and make progress."
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Though Berke didn't use the term, it's what people have called for more than a decade and a half "The Chattanooga Way."
Essentially, it's public and private entities coming together to do the most good for the most people.
That's what Berke said he wants to continue as he begins his third year as mayor.
Two initiatives he believes could set a national tone are low-priced Internet service for Chattanooga families of children on free- and reduced-lunches in local public schools and a partnership to help tackle sexual assaults on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus.
Despite the city having the "fastest, cheapest Internet in the world," Berke said, a lot of people don't use it or have access to it. In an era where Internet usage is becoming important for quality of life and when the lack of Internet means "leaving people behind," the city should set the standard for access.
Though details are still being worked out with city-owned EPB, he expects qualifying families, who are city residents and have children in Hamilton County schools, will be able to receive 100 Mbps of high-speed Internet at $26.99 per month, less than half the market rate of $57.99 a month. The cost for those families, he said, is just above EPB's cost of providing the service.
People may accuse the mayor of picking winners, but EPB competitor Comcast could offer to make the same deal with the city.
To help combat sexual assaults on the UTC campus, Berke said, the city will partner with UTC, the Chattanooga Police Department and the Family Justice Center. What he believes the coalition will do is broaden education about sexual assaults and, in turn, increase the reporting of them.
The Chattanooga Police Department now has a sex-crimes unit and, thus, has added capacity to deal with campus assaults. On campus and off, he said, Chief Fred Fletcher's department also will use "focused deterrence" to watch residences and places where there may have been trouble in the past.
"We think it will make an impact," he said.
Crime, in general, and the reduction of it are also high on Berke's lists both of accomplishments and unfinished business.
While he said the city in 2014 experienced a 10 percent decrease in shootings over 2013, a 19 percent reduction in gang-related shootings and a five-year low in its robbery rate, people still may not feel safe in their neighborhood.
"Perception matters," he said.
Berke believes his Violence Reduction Initiative [VRI], which he adopted in 2014 to help deal with gang violence, is helping in that area. While he admitted he raised expectations in saying in 2014 that the "trend line [for crime] has to be down," he said he had "tried to be realistic."
Homicides went up in the first year, the success of the VRI jobs component has been inconsistent and a major financial partner pulled out, but he believes "people expect progress" and "we've made progress."
In the end, Berke said, the goal for his administration is "results that catapult long beyond when I'm here." For some administrations, it might be a Chattanooga Waterfront. For his, it might be safer streets and more accessible Internet.
"What makes [Chattanooga] different," he said, "is we care about our neighbors." Chattanoogans believe "our life is better if our neighbors are doing better. It's just our way of doing business."
From baby steps like access to the Chattanooga Public Library for all public school children and the installation of a crosswalk to facilitate the providing of breakfast for school children by an Avondale couple to giant steps like finding homes for homeless veterans and establishing an innovation district, Berke is making sure that neighborly way of doing business continues for the Scenic City.